


Catharsis

by kaientai



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: At least on the Alucard side of thigns, Consensual Blood Drinking, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Gift Fic, Subtle flirting, Surprise Sarah I didn't torture him to death, season 3 did not happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23461162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaientai/pseuds/kaientai
Summary: Alucard had always been adamant with letting you stay at the castle once your little band of heroes had to part ways. But, dear God, was he grateful you never left him behind.  [DW20]
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 128





	Catharsis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [winxes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/winxes/gifts).



> for sarah, alucard deserves everything good in the world.

Muted birdsong filled his ears as golden eyes fluttered open, squinting at the way the resplendent daylight peeked from the spaces between the satin curtains in the bedroom he'd claimed for himself. 

Alucard stifled a yawn, fangs prickling his bottom lip when he'd flexed his jaw too much. Cursing, he dabbed the tiny puncture wound with his fingers; small, crimson spots smearing his pale skin. He was over a hundred years old. He should manage to avoid accidentally nicking himself with his own fangs at this point.

"Looks like someone isn't having a good morning."

He'd been so accustomed to living alone that he still found himself startling at the sound of your voice. You stood by the door (that he could have sworn he'd locked the previous night), holding in your hands, a basket of...white sheets? 

"What are you doing?" he asked, frowning as he propped himself on his bed. 

"Laundry," you replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's been God-knows-how-long since you've bothered airing these out, so it'd do me well if you stripped your mattress and gave me yours, too." 

You did have a point. He was a dhampir, so Alucard didn't feel the need to regularly wash the sheets he slept on. (Mostly because he preferred the velvet cushioning of his coffin, but you insisted that he 'quit being a weirdo'.) His skin didn't react to the decades-old dust that coated every piece of furniture in the castle, but he supposed (temporarily) living with a human would affect his way of life one way or another. 

He got up on his feet without much coercion, stripping the mattress off the bed linen that had questionable stains here and there. Even his pillows smelled archaic, he thought as he wrinkled his nose—deciding to toss them into the woven laundry basket that sat idly behind the door. 

"Could you give me a hand carrying these to the laundry room," you asked meekly, jutting your lip into a subtle pout. Alucard sighed. There really was no need for theatrics like that when he'd already planned on helping out in the first place.

"I'll be with you in a minute," he said as he undid the bodice of his nightclothes. 

He didn't miss the way you immediately averted your gaze while you dragged his laundry basket out of the door. Alucard also had a keen eye for humans whose blood rushed to certain parts of their body; in this case, your face. 

Why someone distantly related to the Belnades clan was flustered in his company, even he didn't know. 

* * *

"So you're an only child?" 

Alucard's brows furrowed at such a strange inquiry. Today, he'd decided to drop by the nearby river to catch some fish for lunch, and you'd insisted on coming along. That was certainly not the kind of questions you would ask someone— _Dracula's son_ , no less—when you were hunting for food. 

"Yes," he responded, either way, eyeing a carp that swam in circles in the shallower parts of the stream. His legs were submerged up to the knee, and he was careful with the way he approached his prey; raising the makeshift spear he'd put together this morning before going in for the kill. 

The fish floundered underwater, but he'd managed to pierce its side with the pointed end of the spear. Alucard lifted it to the air where it flailed around, mouth curving into a satisfied smile. When he trained his gaze back to you, however, you had one finger pointed in the air as you manipulated a clump of water out of the stream, a single carp still swimming cluelessly in the limited space. 

"I keep forgetting I'm currently taking up residence with a witch," Alucard chuckled airily, tossing the fish in one of the baskets he'd brought along. 

You simpered, doing the same with your own catch. "And you were _so_ reluctant to let me come with."

Turns out, his first catch was merely beginner's luck. Not even his heightened senses could pin another fish down on the riverbed, for they avoided him before he could even get close. Meanwhile, you've been cheating your way out of a hunter's integrity by twirling your fingers and bending the river to your heart's desire. 

"I do not recall Sypha being exceptionally skilled with water," he mentioned as the two of you made the trek back to the castle. "Ice, yes. But water?"

You breathed out a long sigh, tilting your head up to the canopy of trees where sunlight filtered through the leaves. "You do know that ice is just another form of water, right?" 

Ah, so there _was_ another human being other than Trevor that liked to test his patience. 

But unlike he did with the sad excuse of a Belmont, he didn't feel the need to retaliate with an off-handed comment of his own. Instead, he let you have the last word—watching as you marvelled at the way the morning light seemed to breathe life into the forest from the corner of his eye.

* * *

Alucard awoke in the dead of night to the sound of your screams filling his ears.

He groaned, hauling himself to his feet as he groggily put on his slippers. Your room was in the other end of the hall, but his instinct for danger never really slept. 

The dhampir padded somewhat blindly in the dark, but he's spent so much time going to-and-from his parents' bedroom as a child, he's practically mapped out where the furniture had been placed in his head. When Alucard pushed open the door to your bedroom, you were seated at the edge of the bed—sweat-stricken and out of breath. 

Moonlight spilled from the window, where you preferred not to draw the curtains as he did with his own quarters. He saw the way you blinked up rapidly at him, as if you were making sure he was real. 

"That loud, huh?" you laughed, but there was a strain in your voice that was difficult to miss. 

He shrugged. "I thought we were under siege." 

You managed a wary smile as you tugged the covers closer to your chest. Of course. You'd exchanged your Speaker robes with a flimsy nightgown. It was normal for a woman your age to cover up at the presence of a man like him. 

"Well, I'm very much not being murdered in my sleep," you reasoned. "I'm sorry for waking you." 

So you _didn't_ wish for him to stay by your side. Even for a while.

"All right," he replied, promptly closing the door behind him as he made his way back to his bedchambers.

He found it a bit odd. Whenever Sypha was plagued by nightmares, she would seek Trevor's presence like her life depended on it. Well, she did grow up surrounded by a family of Speakers. Sypha was accustomed to having a constant shoulder to lean on.

You, on the other hand, were a different case. Always keeping to yourself when the four of you were still searching for the Belmont Hold a few weeks back. Always at a specific distance from the three of them—not too far, but also not close enough for conversation. 

"She comes from a branch family that lives far north," Sypha had imparted to him when it was yours and Trevor's turn to hunt for food. "They're more like lone wolves than anything else. She has better people skills than the rest of her siblings, but...some habits just never die, you know?"

It didn't really concern him. As long as the two of you weren't being nuisances to one another, he supposed the castle would still see better days. 

* * *

The two of you had been airing out the table cloths when you imposed another one of your strange questions on him.

"Don't you ever get the urge to...you know, feed?" 

Today, the wind blew stronger than it had for the past week, forcing him to make use of the old clothespins stashed away in the dusty cabinets. He had one pressed in between his lips because the lace dining linen (his mother's favorite) refused to straighten out on the clothesline. 

"Here, let me give you a hand," you offered, patting down the bunched up fabric so he could clip it in place. 

Once the laundry baskets have been emptied, you and Alucard opted to sit by the unkempt grass in front of the castle, basking in the fresh breeze that blew past. It was high noon, but neither of you seemed up for scouting the forest for any unsuspecting rabbits to have for lunch. 

"I do," he answered your previous question a tad bit too late than what was acceptable. Still, your ears perked up at his answer, as if expecting more.

The dhampir spread out his slender legs, feeling blades of grass pricking the fabric of his fit trousers. He wondered what prompted you to ask him something like that, but he humored you with a somewhat plausible explanation.

"Though I'm not as feral as my...brethren, it still doesn't change the fact that I'm still half a vampire." 

You nodded in understanding, pulling your knees up to your chest as you rested your chin on top. Alucard watched the clouds roll past in the vast, blue sky overhead. The weather had been suspiciously fair ever since the two of you stayed behind a month ago. Was this perhaps, the calm before the—

"Do you want to? Right now?" 

Your voice was so quiet, he wasn't sure if he'd heard you right—even with his exceptional hearing. The dhampir cast you a dubious look, eyes gazing at you hard, while you returned his stringent stare with a lopsided smile. 

Before he could even manage any sort of coherent reply, you unclipped the pin that held the hood of your robes together, baring one shoulder before his eyes. The sight of your bare skin sent a rush of bloodlust straight through his skull, and he could feel his fangs protruding at the mere sound of your pulse straining against your supple skin. 

"Are you certain?" he rasped, forcefully taming the animal that threatened to break free from the reins of his reason. "I will not feed on you if you even have a single shred of doubt lingering in your mind."

Instead of the fear he'd grown accustomed to seeing in the eyes of humans he was about to get his share of blood from, you were surprisingly composed. 

"We're comrades, are we not?" You chuckled, even titling your head to the side to give him more leeway. "It'd be a pain if you underperformed in the off-chance we're attacked just because you're depriving yourself. "

"But—"

Making an exasperated noise, you leaned forward so that your faces were barely an inch apart. The set of your brow was clue enough that you didn't want to hear any of his excuses made out of decency. He frowned. Were humans getting even more tenacious by the generation?

"Shut up and drink my blood, Alucard," you commanded. 

When you assumed your previous position, neck bare and vulnerable for him to take, Alucard wasted no time crouching next to you. He held your face with gentle hands, cupping your cheek as he pushed your hair back with the other. He could feel the vampire inside him thrashing around his cage of self-control, and for the first time in a long time, he set it free—plunging his fangs into your sweet skin as blood exploded in his mouth. 

* * *

It was strange that you didn't ask for anything in return. 

From his own, personal experiences, humans thought only of themselves and nothing else. It wasn't inherent for them to simply let a half-breed vampire suck out a reasonable amount of blood from their bodies without expecting any form of repayment. 

Yet, you continued letting the days pass idly by as if nothing happened. You would still prepare breakfast for two at the dining hall before he even woke up. You would still tend to the plants you'd resurrected with your water magic because he once let slip a memory of his mother growing herbs by the side of the castle. And you would still tease him for his dramatic taste in literature whenever you caught him lounging inside the library. 

"Shouldn't we use this time to do our own research?" you asked as you threw a leather-bound copy of one of his favorite classics. Alucard caught it swiftly in one hand before setting it down beside him, grimacing at your lack of concern for the books his father had personally preserved.

"I'd rather not go snooping around the Belmont Hold when there isn't a Belmont present," he replied flatly, pulling his concentration on the manuscript he was currently reading. It spoke of the inner evils that lurked within the Church a few hundred years before his mother had even met Dracula. 

You groaned, letting yourself fall to the cushioned alcove he'd taken refuge in. The warmth of your body emanated from your thick clothes, and he wondered if you ever felt stifled by them. 

"Aren't you uncomfortable in your robes?" he articulated his concerns out loud, realizing at the last second that his words could imply something else. 

His fear had been realized when you glanced back at him with mischief lining your gaze. "Is that an invitation I hear?" 

The dhampir sighed, tucking the manuscript underneath his elbow as he rose to his feet. You snickered cheekily at him, eyes lit up with playful amusement when Alucard brandished you with an exasperated stare.

"Perhaps, _you_ are what's going to make me keel over one of these days," he mumbled. 

* * *

It rained a few days after that little incident in the library, and Alucard opted to watch the downpour from the comfort of his bedchambers. 

He supposed it was already late in the afternoon. You liked to take short naps at this time of day, so he wasn't expecting any company at all until he heard three, subtle knocks on his door. 

When he opened it, he was greeted by the sight of you in nothing but the same, old night gown you wore to sleep in the evenings. He quirked his brow in confusion, as if to wordlessly ask what is it that you wanted, but he noticed the way your body trembled slightly. 

"It's cold," you told him, shoulders squared. "Can I sleep with you just until dinner?" 

That was how he ended up with you cushioned above his arm, dozing softly with a hand draped on his chest. Alucard tried to stay as perfectly still as he could manage, having the inkling that the only reason you slept in the day was because you couldn't do so at night. The swell of your breasts was pressed imposingly against his own clothes. The delicate fabric of your night gown rose up your thighs when you raised your leg a little to bring him closer. And while he _did_ have the decency not to take advantage of an unconscious woman, it did not stop his mind from wandering into uncharted territory. 

"How do you expect me to sleep if you're so excited to be lying next to me, Alucard?"

He wasn't even surprised by the fact that you were still awake anymore. Your knee was brushing his crotch already, and he would only be a liar if he responded to you otherwise. 

"I'm certain you can manage," he spoke with a soft laugh, fingers tangling themselves into your hair before he felt you relax once more into his touch.

* * *

"I don't really know why you're so insistent with this," the dhampir complained as he wiped the grime off his trousers. "I believe the flowers in your little garden have already bloomed. Pray tell, why do we have to waste away finding more in the forest?" 

You glanced back at him as you pushed past another thicket of bushes. "Because those flowers aren't supposed to make contact with your skin or else you'll burn." 

" _My_ skin?" he repeated. 

Alucard figured that there really was no convincing you to turn back when you promptly ignored his question. The two of you waded across the untouched forest for about ten more minutes before finally emerging into a clearing. The sunlight was more muted here compared to the castle, but it was certainly brighter than it had been a few moments ago. 

In the middle of the clearing was a bed of flowers, each bloom more vibrant than the last. You tugged on Alucard's wrist, guiding him to sit on the grass with you. When you crawled behind him, he glanced at you with a lingering question in his eyes, but the look you gave him only told him to sit still.

"I've been wanting to do something with this hair of yours ever since our first meeting," you admitted, combing your fingers through his tangled tresses. "For someone with a mother just as beautiful as yours, you should do a little more effort to groom yourself, am I right?" 

"I'm afraid I'm not following your train of thought," Alucard sighed. 

The laugh that rumbles in your chest was light-hearted, and the dhampir didn't mind hearing it again. "I used to do Sypha's hair a lot before my family moved north. She particularly liked it whenever I weaved flowers into the braids." 

"I am _not_ Sypha," the dhampir pointed out, but let you do as you please, nonetheless. 

The way your hands gently gathered tufts of his golden hair was something so soothing, he could have fallen asleep if he wasn't as self-aware as he was. Your fingers were skilled enough that you didn't tug on his scalp the wrong way. Every minute or-so, you would pluck a flower from the ground, securing it in place under the delicate yet firm braid you made out of his hair. 

When you were satisfied with your handiwork, you stood up and let out a gasp that prompted him to whip his head back at you. Did it not come out the way you wanted to?

"You're quite the beautiful dhampir, good sir," you giggled as Alucard examined the braid with his own hands. 

The intricate work that was put into his so-called grooming left him in awe, as well. But it wasn't really like you to cut corners in the things you did regularly. However, if anyone else were to see him in this state, he could only wonder if they thought how silly it was for a human to domesticate him like this.

Just like his mother did with Dracula.

"Do you like it?" you wondered, eyes withholding the hope of a child's.

Alucard's lips stretched into a small smile, as he rose to his full height, pulling you closer to him. You let out a small squeak of surprise at the unexpected action, and you seemed like you were about to protest until he pressed his mouth tenderly on your forehead. 

"I do," he replied.

* * *

A few nights later, he was roused again by the same screams that woke him up the last time. 

He knew you would just send him back to his room if he came over to check on you. He knew that you were not one for close companionship. 

Alucard knew all these things, but he still found himself standing in front of the door to your bedchambers, pushing it open with concern lining his features. You were the same, sweat-stricken mess he'd found on one of the first nights he's spent with you in the castle. But there was something different now. The relief that flooded your face at the sight of him hadn't been there before. 

"I woke you up again," you spoke a-matter-of-factly. "Sorry. I really have to stop doing that."

The dhampir smiled. "I figured that bandits were about to ransack the castle because of the knowledge of a pretty lady residing in it."

"Pretty, huh?"

The way your eyes softened was enough of a sign for him to go back. Alucard spared you a minute nod, making the motions to see himself out of the door—

"Wait."

He turned his head to give you a sideways glance. "What is it?"

You bit your lip in an enticingly distracting manner that reminded him to keep himself in check at all times. Through the faint illumination, he could still see the way crimson dusted your cheeks before saying, "Can you stay? Just for the night."

Alucard made a show of contemplation for a few moments even though he'd already made up his mind before you even asked. The dhampir slowly closed the door behind him, shaking his head before climbing into the bed right next to you.

"Just for the night."


End file.
